Lively, entertaining reviews of, and essays on, old and newer films and everything relating to them, written by professional author William Schoell.

Thursday, January 28, 2016

DEAD MAN'S EYES

DEAD MAN'S EYES (1944). Director: Reginald Le Borg.

This "Inner Sanctum" mystery stars, as usual, Lon Chaney Jr., as artist David Stuart. David has a girlfriend named Heather (Jean Parker of Beyond Tomorrow), whose father, Stanley (Edward Fielding) is a good friend of his. David is working on a painting of his model, Tanya (Acquanetta), when she accidentally switches a bottle of eye wash with acid, resulting in David's blindness. Tanya, who is in love with David, wants to take care of him, out of guilt, while David's buddy, Alan (Paul Kelly of The File on Thelma Jordan) wants to take care of Tanya. Stanley arranges for David to get a corneal transplant when the time comes, and ironically winds up the donor when he is murdered. Suspects include everyone from David to Tanya to Nick (George Meeker), who is hoping to marry Heather. With a very suspenseful story and some adept playing, this is one of the best in the short-lived Inner Sanctum series. Acquanetta [Captive Wild Woman]is especially effective as Tanya.

2 comments:

Ha, ha! Somewhere in this world there's got to be a senior citizen, cinema-loving drag queen who calls herself Acquanetta! With a name like that you sort of sense the real Acquanetta was doomed to certain obscurity, except among film buffs, of course!

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